County lose the basement battle

County lose the basement battle

Stirling County are now embroiled in a battle to avoid relegation from the RBS Premiership after their latest home defeat to Dundee. Matches against the Taysiders have been close run affairs and this turned out to be no different, with the visitors scoring a last minute try to take the spoils and leave County with a consolation bonus point, just after the Bridgehaugh side appeared to have won the match with a late try by debutant centre Mark Bennett.

County were forced into an early change when Robbie Boswell limped off after 4 minutes to be replaced by Struan Robertson. Early handing errors were evident from both sides, with Stuart Edwards and Jamie Urquhart exchanging penalties in the first ten minutes to tie the scores at 3 -3.

County went ahead through a Ruiradh Leishman try in the left corner after 12 minutes, following a side-step and break by skipper Alex Moffat who was tackled just short of the line.

The ball was recycled and after three successive forward drives, the ball was fed out to Leishman who squeezed over for the opening try converted by Edwards, giving County a 10 - 3 lead.

Dundee missed two penalty kicks at goal before camping in County's 22 for over 10 minutes, and despite desperate defending by the home side, holding up Dundee three times over the try line in the process, the home defence couldn't keep Neil Dymock from scoring under the posts, with the try converted by Urquhart to level the scores at 10 - 10 after 28 minutes.

County responded and Edwards notched a penalty on 32 minutes after Dundee were penalised for not rolling away at the tackle. Three minutes later and a loose pass in the visitors' 22 was intercepted by the Dundee backs and following a kick ahead only a last gasp pick-up by the chasing Ross Aitken in his own 22 prevented the visitors from scoring. In the last play of the first half, Edwards kicked a penalty to extend the home side's lead after Dundee were again penalised for killing the ball in the tackle.

County's failing in recent matches is their poor start to the second period, and this struck again, conceding a penalty after 43 minutes for not releasing in the tackle, converted by Urquhart to reduce County's advantage to three points. Dundee continued to have the majority of possession and territory, but resolute defending by County kept the Taysiders at bay. On the hour mark replacement props Steve Raby and Jamie Bhattie came on for Garry Mountford and Mike McDonald respectively, and on 65 minutes Edwards increased County's lead to 19 - 13 from a penalty after Dundee were adjudged to have strayed offside.

From the re-start County got into a fankle, and a dropped ball inside the 22 was picked up by Jack Steele who ran in unopposed from 10 yards to score the simplest of tries converted by Steele to gift Dundee a 20 - 19 lead.

County were stunned into action and came back at Dundee, and with three minutes remaining, a 40-metre break by strong running Danny Gilmour saw the inside centre draw his man before offloading to the supporting Bennett for the outside centre to score his first try for County to give the homeside a 24 - 20 lead. The conversion was missed.

Brian Archibald replaced Danny Gilmour, and again from the kick-off County mis-handled and gave Dundee possession in the 22.

After a succession of phases, Dundee drove to the line and from a resultant scrum, Ian Wilson found a gap to score a try close to the posts, converted by Urquhart to seal a vital win for Dundee, leaving County with only a losing bonus-point.

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